Books read in 2025
I spent the majority of 2025 harried, absent and anxious. When my husband and I switched phone carriers and upgraded our devices this past September, I was fastidious about which apps I would use daily. For entertainment, I kept the ones I used for reading — Libby, Kindle, and Goodreads — and deleted the rest.
This may explain why, with the exception of one title, my reading activity is concentrated in the last four months of the year. My current lifestyle does not allow me to carry around physical books without losing or misplacing them, so I read on my phone. And without social media to distract me, I was able to fit in some pages at work during breaks, a few at the breakfast table, more than I should before bed...
To sum up this year's reads: I read a lot of translated fiction and novels written by women writers. Most of my reading recommendations came from the New York Times Book Review newsletter, though occasionally I'd see some interesting titles featured in the daily emails from BookBub and Early Bird Books; in any case, my main connection to the literary world existed via my inbox.
Other observations:
- I chased the trendy and newly published — 9 of the 29 books I read this year were published in 2025.
- Another 9 (with no overlap) are translated works. Of these, 5 are books written by Japanese writers.
- With the exception of 5 writers (R. F. Kuang, Naomi Novik, Sally Rooney, Yiyun Li, Hannah Kaner), all books were written by authors I'd never read or heard of before; T. Kingfisher has become a favorite.
The titles that impacted me most this year
- I Who Have Never Known Men (1995) by Jacqueline Harpman
- The Pretender (2025) by Jo Harkin
- Katabasis (2025) by R. F. Kuang
Et al.
February
Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise (2017) by Lin Yi-Han
September
Taiwan Travelogue (2020) by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ / Strange Pictures (2022) by Uketsu
October
The Embroidered Book (2022) by Kate Heartfield / The Hounding (2025) by Xenobe Purvis / The Summer War (2025) by Naomi Novik / Talking to My Father's Ghost: An Almost True Story (2025) by Alex Krokus / Strange Houses (2021) by Uketsu / Diary of a Void (2020) by Emi Yagi / The Decagon House Murders (1987) by Ayatsuji Yukito
November
The Mill House Murders (1988) by Ayatsuji Yukito / Hemlock & Silver (2025) by T. Kingfisher / The Labyrinth House Murders (1988) by Ayatsuji Yukito / Things in Nature Merely Grow (2025) by Yiyun Li / Intermezzo (2024) by Sally Rooney / Throne of Glass (2012) by Sarah J. Maas
December
A Council of Dolls (2023) by Mona Susan Power / The Book of Records (2025) by Madeleine Thien / Thornhedge (2023) by T. Kingfisher / Isola (2025) by Allegra Goodman / Paladin's Grace (2020) by T. Kingfisher / A Sorceress Comes to Call (2024) by T. Kingfisher / Swordheart (2018) by T. Kingfisher
Did not finish
Loot (2023) by Tania James / Faithbreaker (2025) by Hannah Kaner / The Idiot (2017) by Elif Batuman / Babel (2022) by R. F. Kuang